Do You Question Your God Given Gifts and Talents?

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Have you ever felt as though you had been blessed with certain God given gifts and talents, but then questioned them because of what people have said about you or to you? In this post, learn how to shut out the voices that tell you that you can’t when God has planted those gifts and talents within you!

Updated and republished from 2/28/2020

Have People Made You Question Your Gifts and Talents?

I had been writing since I was a small child.  I wrote my first “book” (unpublished of course) when I was about six years old. I would sit in my room for hours on end, writing plays and stories. I had a love for writing that just made me get lost in it. This love of writing went on until I was sixteen.

Then one day, someone told me I couldn’t write.

They simply said it was a waste of time and I would never make anything of myself writing. They essentially said I would never write in a way that would ever be of any benefit, to me or anyone else, and that I didn’t have enough talent for it to ever be a useful endeavor.

Because this was said by an adult family member, and in spite of the fact that this person had never read ANYTHING I had ever written, it stuck with me.

My mother and my sister raved about my writing and encouraged it. My sister even saved some of my writings for years! But this one person told me I couldn’t. So I put the pen down.

I didn’t write again for decades; not a single word. Decades!

Recently I opened up and shared my love of writing with my husband. I shared with him my dream of starting a blogging ministry for women so I could share my experiences, my hurts, my pain, in the hopes of helping someone. 

I wanted to share the things I had learned over the years and my experiences as a Messianic Jew in the hopes of helping someone grow deeper in their walk with God.

I told him however that I didn’t believe I could do it. Oh, those old recordings coming back once again. The recordings that always seemed to say “You can’t…..”.

It was on a long car ride when we talked about it. He got excited about my dream. He gave me ideas and made ME get excited about it too.

After all this time, someone was encouraging me to take my love of writing and do something with it. Someone told me I COULD do something significant with it!!  There was someone once again who told me my writing was worth something and that I DID have the God given talents to make this happen!

Using Your God Given Talents

Isn’t it funny in an ironic sort of way that we can be told by multiple people that we have a gift, but one person can come along and make us question everything we know about ourselves? All the voices who tell us “you can…” can be silenced by the one who tells us “you can’t…”!

And we can go on, sometimes our whole lives, believing the lie of “you can’t”!

But the wonderful things is that one person can come along that we trust and believe enough to silence that voice and show us how not only do we believe in God but that He believes in us!

He entrusts us with these gifts and talents in life because He knows he has equipped us for them!

You see, I should have listened to God, but I was even doubting that HE even wanted me to write.

Maybe I was meant to do something else!

God has given each of us certain gifts. Some of them spiritual and some of them of the innate kind that anyone could have regardless of their faith.

The enemy wants us to squander those gifts and those talents so that they never benefit anyone, least of all God and His Kingdom!

All the voices who tell us 'you can…', can be silenced by the one who tells us 'you can't…'! Click To Tweet

What Are the Types of God Given Gifts and Talents?

It would be impossible for me to list all the gifts and talents a person could have. But there is a list in God’s Word of the Spiritual Gifts that the Holy Spirit gives to us as believers:

Gifts of the Spirit

Each one of us in the body of Christ is given spiritual gifts. When we are saved and the Holy Spirit (Ruach HaKodesh in Hebrew) comes to dwell inside of us, we receive these gifts. No one inside the Church is omitted.

We are all empowered by the Spirit with these gifts, although not the same gifts as our friends or family! Our gifts are given as God wills. We are all one body with different parts and different functions. The Bible tells us in 1 Corinthians 12:4-11:

“Now there are various kinds of gifts, but the same Ruach. There are various kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are various kinds of working, but the same God who works all things in all people. 

But to each person is given the manifestation of the Ruach for the benefit of all. For to one is given through the Ruach a word of wisdom, to another a word of knowledge according to the same Ruach, to another faith by the same Ruach, to another gifts of healings by the one Ruach, to another workings of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another different kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 

But one and the same Ruach activates all these things, distributing to each person individually as He wills.

TLV

So while our gifts may not be the same, we are all given them if we are in Christ! So let no one ever convince you that you are not gifted in some way!

These are God given gifts that no man can take away from us! And these gifts are given to glorify God and to help and encourage one another! No matter what anyone says to you or about you, they cannot take these from you!!

Then there are other gifts!   

One person can come along that we trust and believe enough to silence that voice! To show us that not only do we believe in God but that He believes in us!! Click To Tweet

Inherent Gifts or God Given”Talents”

Then there are inherent gifts.

Inherent gifts are gifts you are born with. It doesn’t matter if a person is saved or unsaved, these are gifts they may naturally have.

Gifts such as these might be the gift of singing, the gift of speaking, the gift of teaching, and yes, the gift of writing.

We often refer to these gifts as “talents”. When someone is a great singer we often say they are “talented”. These are the things we just seem to be able to do without any formal training, etc.

They come naturally to us, regardless of whether we know God and have the Holy Spirit or not. These are in fact God given gifts but not the gifts of the Spirit. Whether you are saved or unsaved, you have certain talents!

Using Your God Given Gifts and Talents to Glorify God

No matter if we are speaking of a gift of the Spirit or a talent you are born with or learn, we should use all of these to glorify God.

If you have a talent for singing, sing to glorify the Lord.

If your gift is writing, write to glorify God! If your gift is encouragement, use it to encourage the body of believers! If your gift is the discerning of spirits, use it to help the others!

We have our God given gifts and talents to be used by Him, but the enemy often tells us we are not gifted and not talented.

He makes us believe his lies! He wants you to squander your talent, like I squandered my writing for so many years, by believing an ill-willed person. Sometimes it’s our own thoughts that tell us we are not good enough.

Maybe he can’t attack us that way because our talent is undeniable, so he makes us believe it is better suited for the world.

He plies us with money or fame so that we use our gifts and talents to glorify ourselves. There is nothing wrong with using your talents IN the world, as long as it is not the world or yourself you are glorifying!

At the end of the day, the enemy wants us to waste our gifts and talents as opposed to using them for God’s glory.

Have You Been Questioning Your God Given Gifts and Talents?

 As a blogger, I see other faith bloggers all too often question their calling. I do it myself even today!

We look at other bloggers and compare. We wonder if we really heard God’s call to write or if we are just following our own will.

I have seen such anointed singers nearly throw in the towel because of one failed audition. The enemy immediately makes them question their talent. They think maybe they’re not as good as they thought.

What gifts and talents do you often find yourself questioning? Trust God! Trust that He will reveal to you your gifting!  Trust that when He does, He made no mistake!

No matter what people tell you, no matter what you tell yourself…trust God!  Don’t let the enemy or even other people stifle the wonderful God given gifts you’ve been blessed with!

Share in the comments if you’ve ever felt afraid to pursue something you felt called to because someone made you feel you couldn’t do it!

And be sure to get your FREE Bible Study Worksheets and Coloring Sheets below as my gift to you!

Tree of Life (TLV) – Scripture taken from the Holy Scriptures, Tree of Life Version*. Copyright © 2014,2016 by the Tree of Life Bible Society.  Used by permission of the Tree of Life Bible Society.

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